phxjustice:

So, a person who agreed to meet a fictional "minor" shows up at said "minor's" door and that is enough to charge them with "attempted statutory rape", even if there wasn't an actual "victim" of said "attempted statutory rape" ? Doesn't that seem just a bit twisted?

There were, if I recall, several men who arrived with lube and so forth. I don't think you mean to argue that even those with such clear intent should be ignored. The problem is with the manner in which they were lured, as well as a host of other legal problems with what Dateline NBC was up to.

Here are a couple of references you might find useful:

This Esquire article from September 2007 describes a specific and widely condemned episode of the aforementioned program.

In this Slate article from October 2006, William Saletan (aka Human Nature), after he has weighed in on the Mark Foley/Bill Clinton hypocrisy (doesn't that all seem like ages ago?), goes on to express reservations about the prosecution of virtual sex crimes. Of course, I do understand the difference between sending sexually explicit e-mail (as awful as that may be) and showing up at a place where one believes sex with a minor will occur. I included this link because in neither case does any actual physical sex take place.